The Hart Foundation vs. The Rockers 04.28.90

Where: Austin, TX
Back Story:
This was in April of 1990 as the WWF was promoting the Hart Foundation vs. Demolition. The Rockers were the company's resident pretty boys, but had tones of talent and unique offense. I actually remember seeing this match during it's original broadcast, and was very excited since i was a rarity that there was a face vs. face matchup with the first one being Hogan vs. Warrior from Wrestlemania VI earlier in the year.

While history dictates that the Rockers were this great team, I do very much remember that liking them in my school was just as bad as liking Hulk Hogan. It was the ultimate sign that you were a loser, and possibly a little attracted to men. I played along with the hatred, but I secretly admitted that they had some great moves. I even tried to bring it up in conversation when we talked about the Rockers, but when the room got quiet, I realized it wasn't time yet to admit that I thought they were good.


Anyway, there was really no storyline for this match, but I suspect it was put on just because there's a portion of their audience that needs to see a good match once in a while or they'll lose interest. Of course, they don't use that mentality all the time because as Dave Meltzer has hinted, wrestling is about giving the crowd a little bit of a high which keeps them coming back hoping for complete satisfaction.

By the way, Vince McMahon sounds like he's doing commentary solo, but they just edited out Jesse Ventura who has the audacity to demand that he gets paid royalties like every other entertainer. I swear the WWE should just have a tour bus that takes wrestlers from arena to hotel to arena so they these guys never get a sniff at what the rest of the entertainment world gets. Stacy Keibler, Goldberg, and The Rock did, and we haven't heard from them since.

In Ring Action:

Bret Hart and Marty Janetty start off which a collar and elbow into a headlock on Hart. Hart reverses Janetty into the ropes for a nice series of high speed reversals leading up to a Hart hiptoss. As Hart goes into attack Jannetty kicks him off from the prone position. Just these 15 seconds were pretty much far and away from anything else that was on in the WWE and I could tell even back then. Besides Battle Kat and the Blue Blazer, the WWE had no flyers or high speed workers during this time.

Marty takes advantage and tags in Shawn Michaels who gets a crossbody of the top reversed by Hart. The Rockers take advantage again and do some of their signature tandem tag offense, or just blatant double-teaming. The kid in me who thought wrestling was real, thought that it was a little heelish to pretty much cheat and stay in the ring for 30 seconds to do their double-team moves. The stuff looked great, but the WWF faces rarely broke any rules like that otherwise. After a few maneuvers by The Rockers, Jim Neidhart decides he's had enough and takes them both down with a clothesline. That was an impressive move. It had good impact and showed that among the lighter technical workers that Neidhart was a powerhouse and could turn the tide with some instant offense.

On a side note, Jim Neidhart was practically worthless as a singles star, but he was such an integral part of the Hart Foundation. He can't put together a one-on-one match, but in a tag team he can come in for 2 minutes and exhibit his athleticism, strength, and character, then tag out to Hart who was a better technician, and seller. Neidhart was also a very charismatic talker.

Back in the ring, Anvil throws a heavy shoulder block which Janetty sells like the Rock taking a Stone Cold Stunner. After another exchange Janetty uses his quickness to get a drop toehold and advantage on the Anvil. After a tag to Michaels, the Anvil shows off that he's the big man in the match and laughs off Shawn Michaels trying a bodyslam, but Shawn slides out of the Anvil's attempt and hits a high drop kick. That was a good spot because even though one could say that the Anvil laughing at Shawn Michaels bodyslam attempt made Shawn look weak, Shawn got his respect back by showing his quickness and hitting a dropkick. Very solid.

After another sequence of events the Anvil catches Shawn going for a crossbody block and hits his bodyslam that he waned earlier. Bret tags in and gains advantage after an inverted atomic drop. Then after Jim Neidhart tags in Shawn gets the advantage for a brief second before Bret kicks Shawn in the back from the outside. I kind of like this move because the Hart Foundation were heels for so long from 1984 until 1988, and I always hated that once you became a heel you ALWAYS cheated, or once you became a face, you were so virtuous. Hart was a face, but his character feels compelled to bend the rules a little bit when the time is right.

Michaels is in trouble after taking a lot of offense from Niedhart and the Hitman in their corner. Shawn's selling and bumping were just as good then as they are now. I guess they decided that The Rockers would get the standard tag position of being the faces in peril since Shawn Michaels is one of the best sellers in wrestling history. The Rockers are also smaller, so it makes since by WWE logic to have them get beat up by the bigger opponents. It's not just that it's Vince McMahon's way of seeing things, but the fans would build up more sympathy to little Shawn Michaels than they would to a big bully like Jim Neidhart.

After a sunset flip by Shawn Michaels gets a near two, Demolition comes to ringside to scout out their opponents. Bret gets distracted by Demolition, and Shawn Michaels takes advantage by drop kicking Bret out of the ring. Demolition in a heelish move try to act like they're helping Bret up, but Hart is having none of it.

After the commercial Bret comes back to the ring and takes control of Michaels again. After some more offense Shawn finally makes his comeback by dodging an elbow drop by Bret from the second rope. Shawn has been doing a great job in his role because the crowd is really hot for him making the tag to Janetty.

Janetty gets the hot tag, and it's his turn to shine. He hits a reverse flying elbow on Bret as well as a powerslam. Janetty his sweet chin music before it had that name for a near two count. After a few more moves Bret breaks his momentum by hitting a neck breaker. Bret tags in Neidhart and tries to hit his slingshot slam over the top rope but Janetty moves out of the way.

Shawn tags back in, and the Anvil hits another hard flying shoulder block which Shawn sells really hard. Shawn comes back with a reverse cross body block off the second rope which the Anvil kicks out of sending Michaels to the floor. Demolition offering the same courtesy they gave Bret Hart, try to help Michaels up, and once again, there is no appreciation of this. Janetty gets involved in it breaks up into a 6-way brawl and the ref throws the match out.

Winner: No Contest @ 9:16 **** 1/4

Afterwards both teams brawl, and I believe the Legion of Doom later make an appearance to send Demolition running. By the way, I love how they continually ring the bell as if that helps. Do they still do that when there is post match fighting?

Anyway, I really loved that match then as much as I love it now. Just state of the art offense with a good story of The Anvil being the powerhouse, and Shawn Michaels doing a bang up job of selling his beating. History always sounds better than it was as I thought this match was 20 minutes when I first saw it. Also, for as much love as these two teams get they were mid carders at best during this time, and if you read Bret Hart's autobiography you will remember that they weren't featured players in the booking. They were just the guys you sent out there when you needed good wrestling to mask the rest of the roster. Mission accomplished.